A second suspect is being sought

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Oakland police shared this image Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019 of an officer tending to a bicycle recovered from a hit-and-run collision in the 1100 block of 35th Avenue near the Fruitvale BART station. (Courtesy Oakland Police Department)

OAKLAND — A person has been arrested in a hit-and-run where a 14-year-old bicyclist was dragged four blocks Jan. 2 in East Oakland, and a second suspect is being sought, police said Wednesday.

Since no formal charges have been filed as yet, police have not identified the suspects.

A news conference police scheduled for Wednesday to announce additional details in the hit-and-run was postponed until the case is reviewed by the district attorney’s office and a decision is made on what charges will be filed, Officer Johnna Watson said.

The San Leandro boy had taken BART to the Fruitvale Station to go to an Oakland bicycle shop.

He had ridden his bicycle onto the 1100 block of 35th Avenue when he was struck by a gold Honda that dragged him some four blocks before he was dislodged in the 900 block of 34th Avenue. He suffered broken bones and other injuries and is still hospitalized in critical condition.

The driver and occupant fled in the Honda, which was recovered later in the day in the 3600 block of San Leandro Street.

Police have not said how they were able to identify the suspects.

The Jan. 2 collision was the latest in a string of crashes along 35th Avenue, which city officials have deemed a “high-injury corridor” — one of the 6 percent of Oakland streets where 60 percent of severe and fatal injuries occur. The street was given that notorious distinction in 2018, officials said.

In August, a car traveling on 35th Avenue veered off the road and crashed into an empty apartment at Brookdale Avenue. In July, a 34-year-old bicyclist was struck and killed on 35th and Galindo Street. And in April, a 9-year-old girl was hit and killed by an SUV on 35th and Paxton Avenue.

Oakland’s Department of Transportation has made safety improvements along the street a priority, officials told the Bay Area News Group last week, but most of them are not scheduled to be completed until 2020. Since this news organization reported on the planned improvements, cyclist advocacy group Bike East Bay has publicly called on city officials to make immediate fixes, such as adding bike lanes on 35th between International Boulevard and the BART station, adding stop signs near Foothill Boulevard and near Brookdale Avenue, and fast-tracking other proposed safety improvements.

Harry Harris is a Pulitzer Prize winning breaking news reporter for the Bay Area News Group. He began his Oakland Tribune career in September 1965 as a 17-year-old copyboy. He became a reporter in 1972 and is considered one of the best crime and breaking news reporters in the country. He has covered tens of thousands of murders and other crimes in the East Bay. He has also mentored dozens of young reporters, some of whom continue to work in journalism today.

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